On The Fly: Before American Top 40, Casey Kasem Covered High School Sports

Also, He Really Didn't Want To Be Shaggy

June 15, 2014|By LORI RILEY, lriley@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

Casey Kasem, who died Sunday at the age of 82 of complications from dementia, became famous as the host of the ubiquitous weekly American Top 40 radio countdown show and also was the voice of Shaggy on Scooby Doo. But did you know that Kasem started his career covering sports for his Northwestern High School radio club in Detroit? Or that he originally wanted to be Fred on Scooby Doo, not Shaggy? Zoinks!

The Courant's final softball and baseball rankings will be out Monday, and it's a good bet that the undefeated Southington softball team will remain as No. 1 after a 15-inning late-night 1-0 Class LL championship game victory over Amity on Saturday. Senior catcher Rachel Dube hit a walk-off home run over the fence at Biondi Field in West Haven at about 10:15 p.m. — more than three hours after the game started. Amity's hard-luck losing pitcher Katie Koshes had 21 strikeouts. Southington junior Kendra Friedt struck out 16 as the Blue Knights defended their LL title and kept their 46-game win streak going.

•NBC Sports golf analyst Roger Maltbie's golf cart driver was arrested Saturday at the U.S. Open in Pinehurst, N.C., after allegedly running into a police officer. The driver, Tommy Lineberry, was reportedly told to stay in one spot by a police officer on the course but Lineberry ignored him and was overheard saying he had to get the cart to Maltbie. According to an Associated Press report, the trooper told Lineberry, "When a state trooper tells you to stop, that's what you're supposed to do." Well, OK then. … Meanwhile, Martin Kaymer of Germany won the U.S. Open on Sunday, but the compelling story was that of Erik Compton, who finished tied for second with Rickie Fowler. Compton has had two heart transplants; his first at age 12 after being diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy when he was 9, and his second in 2008 after a heart attack in 2007 at age 27. He will be in Cromwell this week for the Travelers Championship.

•Olympic swimmer Amy Van Dyken-Rouen, who severed her spine in an ATV accident nine days ago, tweeted Sunday that she was out of ICU: "Finally out of ICU! Now I have an amazing view." Dyken-Rouen, who won six gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, is paralyzed, but it's not certain if her condition will be permanent, according to her family.

•Don't look now, but the Connecticut Sun have won four in a row and five of their past six. The Sun beat the Liberty 76-72 Sunday at Mohegan Sun Arena without leading scorer Chiney Ogwumike, who was graduating from Stanford. Former Sun All-Star Tina Charles had 15 points for New York.

•The U.S. women's soccer team will be training in Connecticut on Tuesday and Wednesday before its game against France on Thursday (7:30 p.m.) at Rentschler Field. The women's team is getting ready for World Cup qualifying in October.